Took my car into the shop today-- I have ZERO mechanical aptitude. They told me that I needed quite a bit of work done on my front steering. The mechanic-- who has a good rep in Phoenix, where I live told me the minimum to make my car safe to drive was: Power Steering Rack & Pinion, Power steering pressure hose, and Sway bar/bushings & links. I've also had a leak in my power steering pump for quite some time, but he said that is not essential right now. He gave me a cost of about $2300. I called Auto Zone and they gave me a price of 219 for the rack & pinion, 148 for the pressure hose. They did not carry the sway bar/bushings and links. My question is, how much should the labor be? $2300 is WAY out of my league right now. I could do maybe $1500 max out-the-door. I'm taking the car to Pep Boys tomorrow, it's a '95 SC400 with about 206K on it. I've already spent about $4-5K since I bought the car from a private seller 3 yrs ago-- I've only put about 28K miles on it since I bought it. Anyways, what would be a good price for the labor I need doen, in terms of hours and cost. Thanks.

 

sounds outrageous to me. dude. sounds like a lexus dealership price. most of what you need done is so simple a monkey could do it. if you are scared to learn diy then i suggest getting other quotes. and maybe try sourcing all the parts yourself for cheaper. and see what labor prices you can get.

 

I thought it was high, that's why I'm having my car towed to Pep Boys in the morning. The mechanic actually has a pretty good rep-- although I've never had work done there before. And I have no tools and no place to work on the car, and I have no doubt that a monkey would do a better job than me. Any thoughts on about how long it would take a pro with a garage and tools. I read it's about 4 hours for the rack and pinion.

 

Bring it down here in San Diego I can do it for ya for 1/4 the price he's asking. I'm gonna do mine also, so we I can do both at the same time. Arizona ain't that far right?

 

No way my car makes it to San Diego... Not safe to drive past 2-3 miles... Have to have it towed about 6 miles tomorrow. Appreciate the though. By the way, what would you say it would take-- time wise to do the rack & pinion, sway bar, etc.. Is it like 4-5 hours??

 

First of all, how do you know the entire rack has to be replaced?

I had a sloppy steering wheel and it actually turned out to be the universal joint on the steering shaft.

This isn't a Ford Explorer, I doubt the whole rack has to be replaced. Unless your car is beat to hell.

You could post another thread like this "Steering/Suspension fix BBQ" Beers for helping hands!

Hell, if I didn't live on the opposite side of the country I'd love a little Toyota BBQ action.

 

Your shop rep is way out of line. The power steering work you mention is VERY easy to do on the SC. The swap bar links even easier.

Shop around for other shops. Check out Ultimate Imports or Dynamic Imports in Tempe.

 

i have a low mileage rack and ps hi pressure line, 200 shipped.

 

Well, I'd reserve 1 whole day to make sure, just in case I encounter any stubborn bolts and considering I'm just gonna do it while the car is on jack stands, there's a DIY here somewhere that I'm gonna use..

 

KingPhillip,

How do you remove that high pressure PS hose, I looked and couldn't find anything, I spent a whole day at the junk yard trying to remove one, but, think I was trying to remove the wrong hose. I have a bolt on the driver side going into the rack n pinion that I can't remove because of angle and the car is flat on the ground. is that the right hose I am trying to remove? I am not high jacking the thread, as this info will help him, is he decides DIY approach. The hose goes from the PS Pump from the passenger side, under the car and to what seems the rack, just beneath what seems like the AC compressor. That 15 mm bolt i cannot remove due to the angle

 

damn. the place i work at charges 250 for a rack job. INSTALLED, but no alignment. im also in cali so price varies in different places. pressure hose should be 1 hour, 2 hours tops since its on a lift. endlink and sway bar bushing should be 1 hour MAX. you can probably do that on your own. it is also hard for the sway bar bushing to go back, but they do go bad,

 

I'm sorry bro but I haven't started working on mine yet so I'm not really sure how it looks like, but I'm gonna figure out as I go and just base everything that I'm gonna do on this DIY https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...ement-diy.html

 

Buy this.......

and an alternator while you're at it.

 

Take it across the border to MExico , SAn Luis rio colorado, pretty cheap to get it replace it... Just get evrything you need to replace with you a rebuilded steering rack can cost you 200 dlls -250 installed ,moog end links 50 dlls each,everything under 1,000 $ , keep your other 500 and buy some beer or keep them in your pocket...